Convertible mould

Abstract

A convertible mould comprising a frame including bars and beams carrying movable heads supporting a lattice of slats in a desired configuration. A conforming sheet material is fixed to the slats to provide a mould surface.

I claim: 
     
       1. A convertible mould for moulding an object having a surface with first principal lines which extend in first parallel planes and second principal lines which extend in second parallel planes intersecting the first planes, comprising a frame, a plurality of rows each having a plurality of head-holders mounted on the frame, each row extending in one of said first planes, a head supported by each head-holder, primary slats having longitudinal dimensions substantially greater than their lateral dimensions, secondary slats interlaced with the primary slats and fixed thereon, each head including means for supporting said primary slats with the longitudinal dimensions thereof extending along said first principal lines, the support means being pivotable about an axis parallel to the first principal line to allow support of a principal slat in a twisted condition that accommodates the configuration of an adjacent secondary slat thereby allowing the primary and secondary slats to locally conform to said surface, and sheets applied to the secondary slats. 
     
     
       2. The mould of claim 1, wherein said support means includes a contact surface with said primary slat which has a length less than about 1/500th of the radius of curvature of the primary slat adjacent the contact surface. 
     
     
       3. The mould of claim 1, wherein said frame includes a plurality of demountable bars, said head-holders are adjustably threadedly fixed to the bars with a predetermined distance between the bar and head, and each of said heads is pivotable about a second axis which is orthogonal with respect to the first mentioned axis. 
     
     
       4. The mould of claim 3, wherein one of said axes is tangent to the surface of the mould. 
     
     
       5. The mould of claim 3, wherein one of said axes is located in the plane of the contact surface of the head with the primary slat. 
     
     
       6. The mould of claim 3, wherein said support means comprise gripping jaws including said contact surfaces for gripping said primary slats and shifting said slats in a direction orthogonal to the planes of the gripping jaws to substantially align the primary slats with said first principal lines. 
     
     
       7. The mould of claim 2, wherein said primary slat is a laminate which is composed of a plurality of elementary slats fitting on a first slat. 
     
     
       8. The mould of claim 1, wherein said frame comprises bars extending in said first planes and said head-holders are fixed on the bars in predetermined positions. 
     
     
       9. The mould of claim 1, wherein said frame comprises demountable bars extending in said first planes in predetermined locations. 
     
     
       10. The mould of claim 1, wherein said support means are adjustable to substantially align said primary slats along said first lines.